Israel escalates war against Hezbollah with airstrikes on Beirut suburbs

A Lebanese soldier attends the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a building in the Dahiyeh area of Beirut on Sunday. Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP View image in fullscreen A Lebanese soldier attends the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a building in the Dahiyeh area of Beirut on Sunday. Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP Israel escalates war against Hezbollah with airstrikes on Beirut suburbs Attack on ‘terrorist headquarters’ comes as Trump says he will not demand Lebanon is included in ceasefire deal Israel has carried out airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, the most serious escalation in its war with Hezbollah since a ceasefire was established in mid-April . The strike hit two apartments in two separate buildings, Lebanon’s state news agency reported, killing two people and wounding 11, according to an initial death toll. The Israeli prime minister’s office said that the Israeli military had struck “terrorist headquarters” in the southern suburbs “in response to Hezbollah’s firing at Israeli territory”. Israel said that it intercepted Hezbollah rocket fire at northern Israel on Sunday morning, though the armed group did not claim responsibility for the attacks. The attacks showered the streets in rubble and caused a wave of people to flee the southern suburbs in fear of further strikes. View image in fullscreen First responders inspect damage after the Israeli strike. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images The strikes on Beirut came just days after a ceasefire proposal agreed by the Lebanese government and Israel was rejected by Hezbollah. Washington had previously asked Israel to not strike Beirut , though Israeli media reported that the US had been informed before Sunday’s strike. Iran had also previously threatened that any attack on Beirut would be met with its own attack on northern Israel . It had yet to comment on Israel’s attack on Sunday. Fighting in Lebanon started on 2 March when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei , triggering an Israeli invasion. Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,613 people in Lebanon, while Hezbollah has killed at least 30 Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 3 Israeli civilians. 16:00 Why Lebanon is divided over the war with Israel – video The skirmishes in Lebanon have been an obstacle for Iran-US negotiations, as Tehran insists that Lebanon be included in a broader ceasefire deal. On Sunday, Trump told NBC News he was not demanding that Lebanon be part of any peace deal with Iran, claiming again that such an agreement, which has so far proved elusive, was near. “I think they’d like ​to see it, but I’m not demanding,” Trump said in the interview recorded on Friday. He added: “We’re very close to a deal, or I’m going ‌to ⁠blow the hell out of them [Iran].” Before the strike on Sunday, Israel had issued a forced evacuation order for most of the city of Tyre, one of the largest cities in southern Lebanon which is hosting thousands of people di